Kratos might be skilled at fighting gods and monsters, but he will be facing an entirely new kind of opponent at the 2018 Game Awards, as God of War is facing off against Red Dead Redemption 2 in every category that they are nominated in.
God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 will be competing in the Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Score/Music, Best Audio Design, Best Action/Adventure, and the Game of the Year awards.
God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 will also be competing through proxies in the Best Performance category, with Christopher Judge as Kratos and Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan representing their respective games.
The official website for the upcoming Game Awards has listed every award and all of the nominees.
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Best Ongoing Game
Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Overwatch (Blizzard)
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
Best Game Direction
A Way Out (Hazelight Studios / EA)
Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / SIE)
God of War (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / SIE)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
Best Narrative
- Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
Best Art Direction
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
Return of Obra Din (3909 LLC)
Best Score/Music – Presented By Spotify
Celeste (Lena Raine)
God of War (Bear McCreary)
Marvel’s Spider-Man (John Paesano)
Ni No Kuni II (Joe Hisaishi)
Octopath Traveler (Yasunori Nishiki)
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Woody Jackson)
Best Audio Design – Presented By Dolby
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch Studios / Activision)
Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
Best Performance
Christopher Judge as Kratos (God of War)
Roger Clark as Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption 2)
Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker (Spider-Man)
Melissanthi Mahut as Kassandra (Assassin’s Creed Odyssey)
Bryan Dechart as Connor (Detroit: Become Human)
Games For Impact
11-11 Memories Retold (Digixart / Aardman Animations / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories (White Owls / Arc System Works)
Best Independent Game
-Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
-Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
-Into the Breach (Subset Games)
-Return of the Obra Dinn (3909 LLC)
-The Messenger (Sabotage Studio)
Best Mobile Game
Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)
PUBG MOBILE (Lightspeed & Quantum / Tencent Games)
Reigns: Game of Thrones (Nerial / Developer Digital)
Best VR/AR Game
ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / SIE)
Beat Saber (Beat Games)
Firewall Zero Hour (First Contact Entertainment / SIE)
Moss (Polyarc Games)
Tetris Effect (Resonair / Enhance, Inc)
Best Action Game
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
Dead Cells (Motion Twin)
Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
Mega Man 11 (Capcom)
Best Action/Adventure Game
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Eidos Montreal / Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix)
Best Role Playing Game
-Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square Enix / Square Enix)
-Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
-Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Level 5 / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
-Octopath Traveler (Square Enix / Acquire / Nintendo)
-Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Obsidian Entertainment / Versus Evil)
Best Fighting Game
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (Arc System Works)
Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
Soul Calibur VI (Bandai Namco Studios / BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment)
Street Fighter V Arcade (Dimps / Capcom)
Best Family Game
-Mario Tennis Aces (Camelot Software Planning / Nintendo)
-Nintendo Labo (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
-Overcooked 2 (Ghost Town Games / Team 17)
-Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Ubisoft Toronto / Ubisoft)
-Super Mario Party (NDCube / Nintendo)
Best Strategy Game
BATTLETECH (Harebrained Schemes / Paradox Interactive
Frostpunk (11 bit studios)
Into the Breach (Subset Games)
The Banner Saga 3 (Stoic Studio / Versus Evil)
Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Sega CS3 / Sega)
Best Sports/Racing Game
-FIFA 19 (EA Vancouver / EA Sports)
-Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games / Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
-NBA 2K19 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)
-Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (PES Productions / Konami)
Best Multiplayer Game
-Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch / Activision)
-Destiny 2: Forsaken (Bungie / Activision)
-Fortnite (Epic Games)
Best Debut Indie Game
The Messenger (Sabotage Studio)
Yoku’s Island Express (Villa Gorilla)
Best Esports Game
CSGO
DOTA 2
Fortnite
League of Legends
Overwatch
Best Esports Player – Presented By Omen By HP
Dominique “SonicFox” McLean (Echo Fox)
Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi
Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao (Royal Never Give Up)
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Natus Vincere)
Sung-hyeon “JJoNak” Bang (New York Excelsior)
Best Esports Team
Astralis (CSGO)
Cloud9 (LOL)
Fnatic (LOL)
London Spitfire (Overwatch)
OG (Dota 2)
Best Esports Coach
Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu (Cloud9)
Cristian “ppasarel” Bănăseanu (OG)
Danny “zonic” Sørensen (Astralis)
Dylan Falco (Fnatic)
Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi (Team Vitality)
Janko “YNk” Paunovic (MiBR)
Best Esports Event
ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018
Evo 2018
League of Legends World Championship
Overwatch League Grand Finals
The International 2018
Best Esports Host
Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez
Alex “Machine” Richardson
Anders Blume
Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere
Paul “RedEye” Chaloner
Best Esports Moment
C9 Comeback Win In Triple OT vs FAZE (ELEAGUE)
KT vs IG Base Race (LOL Worlds)
G2 Beating RNG (LOL Worlds)
OG’s Massive Upset of LGD (DOTA 2 Finals)
SonicFox Side Switch Against Go1 in DBZ (EVO)
Content Creator Of The Year
Ninja
Pokimane
Dr. Lupo
Myth
Willyrex
Game of the Year
- Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)
This is the big category and the line-up is strong this year. God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 seem like the most obvious choices, but Marvel’s Spider-Man might also swoop in for a surprise victory.
Celeste likely doesn’t stand a chance, unless the organizers of the event want a shocking indie win for the Game Awards.
The 2018 Game Awards will be broadcast on December 7th.
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